Shuttle cleaning method



Nov. 24, 1970 R. w. MCCULLOUGH T AL SHUTTLE CLEANING METHOD Filed Nov. 26, 1968 FIG. 5-

INV ROBERT W. McCU GRADY H. SAND ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,542,595 SHUTTLE CLEANING METHOD Robert W. McCullough and Grady H. Sanders, Spartanburg, S.C., assignors to Deering Milliken Research Corporation, Spartanburg, S.C., a corporation of South Carolina Filed Nov. 26, 1968, Ser. No. 778,979 Int. Cl. B08b 9/00 US. Cl. 134-34 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Method to clean the accumulated trash and lint from the interior of a gripper shuttle for automatic high speed looms by blowing fluid through the shuttle.

In certain high speed looms for weaving, the filling yarn is carried through the shed by a gripper shuttle so constructed and arranged that an end of the filling yarn is held by a gripper spring in the gripper shuttle housing. An example of a prior art shuttle of this nature is shown in US. Pat. 2,660,201. In shuttles of this type, lint, sizing materials, oils and trash tend to accumulate between the gripper spring and the housing. If such accumulation is not removed, there is a tendency for the gripper spring to break because of the pressure exerted thereon by the jaw actuating member which is inserted through the housing to open the jaws of the gripper spring for the insertion of the fill yarn. This accumulation can also aflect adversely the interaction between the gripper spring and the gripper spring opener.

Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide an eflicient method to clean the accumulated trash and lint from inside an automatic loom shuttle.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become readily apparent as the specification proceeds to describe the invention with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a top view of an automatic loom shuttle with a portion of the housing broken away;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the automatic loom shuttle with the cleaner attached and a portion of the housing broken away;

FIG. 3 is a view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a view taken on line 5-5 of FIG. 2;

Looking now to FIG. 1, a conventional automatic loom shuttle is shown which basically consists of a shuttle housing 11 and a gripper spring 12 secured in the housing 11 by suitable means such as rivets 14 which project through the housing and the yoke portion 16 of the spring. The rear or impact end 18 of the housing 11 is open, thereby exposing the jaws 20 of the gripper spring which are normally closed under the tension of the arms 22 and 24. The yoke portion 16, arms 22 and 24 and the jaws 20 are formed from a tough resilient material such as spring steel and are in one piece. Opening 28 is provided in both the top and bottom of the housing 11 to permit the insertion of a jaw actuating member from the loom to bear ice pressure, is inserted through openings 28 in the shuttle housing 11, thereby spreading the arms 22 and 24 of the gripper spring (as shown in FIG. 2) so that the arms 22 and 24 are opened sufficiently so that air from the conduit 34 cannot readily leak back out of the opening 28. Conduit 34 has a hollow partially tapered projection 36 which actually enters the openings 28. The projection 36 has two flat surfaces 38 which conform to the inner surfaces of the gripper spring arms 22 and 24 and an opening 40 to supply air to the head or nose end 42 of the shuttle 10. A liquid or a mixture of a liquid and a gas can, obviously, be used instead of air under pressure, if desired.

It should be noted (FIGS. 3 and 4) that gripper spring 12 is shorter in height than the height of the interior of the housing near the nose end, thereby providing a space 43 above and below the gripper spring 12. Further, adjacent the impact end 18 of the housing the gripper spring 12 tapers upwardly to close off the space 43 so that the gripper spring will fit snugly within the housing (note FIG. 5). It can now be readily seen that the air from the opening 40 will cross over the top of arms 22 and 24 through the space 43 into the spaces 30 and 32 and blow any accumulated trash and lint therein out the open or impact end of the housing 11, thereby cleaning out the interior of the housing 11 very effectively. The conduit 34 is readily inserted and removed by an operator and the above cleaning of the shuttle can be accomplished at any time when such is desired or necessary.

The herein disclosed method of cleaning an automatic loom shuttle provides for eflicient cleaning of the shuttle with a minimum of eEort and expenditure of time by the operator. The efiicient cleaning of the shuttle reduces the number of shuttles and shuttle gripper springs broken during operation and greatly increases the service life of the average shuttle. Furthermore, it is not necessary to manually pick the lint from the shuttle or employ fluids such as in a soaking operation to loosen up the accumulated trash in the shuttle.

Although we have described in detail the preferred embodiment of our invention, we contemplate that many changes may be made without departing from the scope or spirit of our invention, and we desire to be limited only by the claim.

That which is claimed is:

1. A method for cleaning accumulated trash and lint from an automatic loom shuttle having a housing and a gripper spring in said housing, said housing having a closed end and an open end, said gripper spring having arms and jaws and being disposed in said housing such that said arms extend substantially the length of said housing in decreasing height from said open end to said closed end and said jaws are spring-biased closed and are positioned adjacent said open end, said housing further having an opening adjacent said open end and overlying said arms where the height of the latter approximates the internal height of the housing, permitting, when in use, the insertion through said opening of a jaw actuating member from the loom to bear against the arms and to open the jaws, comprising the steps of inserting through said opening a conduit into the interior of said housing, said conduit having two substantially flat surfaces conforming to the inner surfaces of said gripper spring arms and two other surfaces substantially conforming to the surface of said opening, said inserting step thereby causing said conduit to fill the space between said arms and the top surfaces of said arms to cover and seal the opening about said conduit to prevent fluid leakage out of said opening, supplying a fluid under pressure into said conduit and supplying said fluid under pressure from said conduit in the References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,830,098 11/1931 Dollinger 15405 3,156,584 11/1964 Yurdin 13440 XR 4 3,237,653 3/1966 Klein et al. 139125 3,364,068 1/1968 Stern 134-36 XR MORRIS O. WOLK, Primary Examiner 5 J. T. ZATARGA, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

